Small waste disposal devices are common in hospitals, doctors' offices and other locations where waste is generated and must be disposed of in a sanitary manner. Further, if the waste emits odors, the waste disposal device should also contain odors emanating from the waste.
Some waste disposal devices include a lid which is coupled to a gear mechanism whereby upon forced manual closure of the lid, the gear mechanism converts the manually-initiated closing movement of the lid into rotation of a twisting mechanism which engages with a length of tubing or a plastic bag in the waste disposal device to thereby cause formation of a twist in the tubing or bag. The twist is situated above the waste products in the tubing or bag so that emanation of odors from the waste products in the container is reduced. Such waste disposal devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,612,099, 6,804,930, 6,851,251, 7,114,314, 7,146,785, 7,316,100, 7,434,377, 7,503,152, 7,503,159, 7,617,659, 7,708,188 and 7,712,285, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
A drawback of such waste disposal devices is that closure of the lid is manually initiated so that the person throwing out the waste product must also come into contact with the lid to urge the lid to close. This contact may be difficult if the person is holding other objects and may also lead to transmission of bacteria from the lid to the person.
It would be desirable to provide a waste disposal device which does not require a person throwing out waste products to manually handle the lid in order to close the lid.